The Platform grows stronger and negotiates with politicians:
it wants a different solution to the problem with radioactive waste.
Platform Against Deep Repository has strenghtened its membership base by admitting other cities and towns. It currently brings together 33 members - 22 municipalities and 11 associations - in order to enforce such a way of finding a solution which would be open, transparent and which, by law, would sufficiently guarantee possibilities to defend municipality’s and the public‘s rightful welfare. [1]. Therefore, its representatives have already discussed a possible consensus on meeting the Platform's goals with the Minister of the Environment Richard Brabec, with the Governor of the South Bohemian Region Jiří Zimola, with representatives of the Regional Office in the Plzeň and Ustí nad Labem Region, and they also presented their position to the Members of the Governmental Committee for the Environment. The Minister of Industry and Trade Jan Mládek, who is leaving his post, has showed no interest in the meeting and rejected it, and so did the Governor of the Vysočina Region Jiří Běhounek.
Although there has been a consensus that a clearer and stronger position of municipalities should be guaranteed by a new Act, which is referred to in the Atomic Act and its specific proposals had been discussed for the past five years, in January the Government decided to postpone further preparations for the draft Act until June 2018 and the Act is out of sight again. This practically means that in 2018 - when four sites are going to be selected for the next round of geological surveys with deep drilling, according to the governmental schedule - the municipalities will have no other possibilities to influence the selection, than they have today (i.e. none). Under such circumstances, the words of the Director of the Radioactive Waste Repository Authority (RAWRA) Jiří Slovák - in his letter dated February 15 addressed to mayoresses and mayors of the affected municipalities Director Slovák marked the governmental rejection of the Act and the postponement of its preparation as "success and progress" - can be perceived as particularly dishonest.
The Minister of the Environment confirmed again that he can not imagine a future repository in the locality where the municipalities reject it. His Ministry now, however, conducts the administrative proceedings for extension of the exploration areas in seven selected sites by a few years at the request of RAWRA, because the original validity period expired on 31st December 2016. All affected municipalities that are members of the Platform, have expressed their disapproval of the RAWRA's doings. 18 municipalities and 6 associations filed a lawsuit against the initial permits which were approved by the Minister Brabec in 2015, but they have not heard from the Ministry yet/the issue has not been resolved up to now.
To support its objectives, the members of the Platform Against Deep Repository have decided to organize a third annual nationwide Day Against Repository on Saturday April 22, 2017. Once again, all seven sites in the Czech Republic will host a series of public events.
Petr Klásek, mluvčí Platformy proti hlubinnému úložišti řekl: "The siting search for a deep geological repository is an important social task, and those who are in charge of the task must be appreciated and honoured by the public for their efforts. Unfortunately, the approach of a number of institutions did not convince me about their fair treatment of the affected communities. Short-term money gains can not substitute for the human dimension of civic coexistence, cooperation and shared responsibility."
Further information can be obtained from:
- Petr Klásek, Mayor of Chanovice and a spokesman for the Platform Against Deep Repository, tel.: +420 606 745 795, obec DOT chanovice AT email DOT cz[2]
Notes:
- More information on the Platform Against Deep Repository http://www.platformaprotiulozisti.cz
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